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Tennessee's first inning Wednesday night started like so many of its mid-week blowouts this season.

Senior right fielder Chris Hall was hit by a pitch, junior third baseman Nick Senzel hit a screaming line drive to left for a single, and senior left fielder Vincent Jackson was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the Vols' leading RBI man, Jordan Rodgers.

Tennessee seemed poised to put up a crooked number and start another mid-week rout.

Instead Rodgers popped the first pitch he saw into foul territory for an out, senior catcher Tyler Schultz struck out looking, and the Vols didn't get a runner past second base the rest of the night.

Alabama State junior right-hander Angel Alicea pitched seven shutout innings to lead the Hornets to a 3-0 win over the Vols in front of 1,274 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium to halt UT's three-game winning streak.

The Vols fell to 24-18, losing their first non-conference game since March 13 and their first mid-week game since March 8. Alabama State improved to 28-14. The Hornets are 18-0 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The Vols finished with just seven hits, all singles, and continued a trend of meager offense. The Vols haven't scored more than five runs in a game since a 13-4 win over Auburn on April 14.

"Offensively right now, our approach isn't very good," Tennessee coach Dave Serrano said. "Our mentality is not real good, and our swings aren't very good. That's a bad combination. We've got a lot of guys that aren't swinging the bat real well all at the same time. ... It looks like there's a lot of guys that are trying to get hits, that are pressing to get hits."

Alicea struck out seven batters, walked just one and scattered six hits, throwing 83 of his 118 pitches for strikes.

"He had a sneaky fastball," Serrano said. "He threw strikes, and he kept us off balance."

Alabama State scored all of its runs in the second. Junior first baseman Chris Biocic led off with a double and third baseman Rey Hernandez was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt, freshman shortstop Eriq White singled up the middle to score Biocic. Tennessee center fielder Brodie Leftridge's throw went over the backstop and through the netting, allowing Hernandez to score and White to go to third. Freshman Oscar Prioleau put down a squeeze bunt down the first base line to score White, and the Vols never cut into the deficit.